Re: Cows and ferrets
>cows and ferrets... an acquaintance of mine has a friend with
>a ferret, and she has convinced him that packs of ferrets used
>to hunt and kill cows.  I'm convinced it is a myth and she
>was pulling his leg, but he is serious.
 
Heehee! An urban myth starting on the FML? Could be! ;) About a year ago
the methods ferrets used to take down their bovine prey was posted to
the FML.  It was all in jest and started, if I remembered right, when
someone mentioned that one of the groups lobbying in CA against legalizing
ferrets were cattle ranchers.  (I think they lobby against anything save
turning more federal lands into grazing land for their cattle.  ;) That's
where the cow-stuff started.
 
Re:  X-Mas Trees...
Someone mentioned the possibility of getting a potted christmas tree....the
ferrets will have a *great* time with the tree. They will help you un-pot
it....often! All my houseplants are in FFZ's! ;)
 
Re: Homemade ferret toys...
Ferrets often remind us that the best toys don't always come from the
store. Cardboard castles made from cardboard boxes and duct tape are
favorites. Poster tubes (which are often too tough for chewers) are great
and wonderful things. At my last job, I managed to collect a dozen+
poster tubes from the trash/recycling. You could connect them with a bit
of duct tape. One of the kids favorite toys, in fact they claimed it from
us, is a 6'+ foot tube that we had longbows shipped in. It's big enough that
they can stand up and run in it. Even the boys can fit with no problems in
there. Carpet stores may have some big, long tubes. Paper bags and cardboard
boxes filled with rumpled paper are also great fun. I hope this gives you
some ideas...
 
Re: A one-gender biter....
Sounds like 'Jinx. From the very start she rarely bit my husband and yet
drew blood on me often. We figure that the 2 months in the pet store
taught her that biting the female employees worked really well for getting
put down. We figure the male employees probably had tougher skin on
their hands or didn't react the same as the women did. We know she would
bite me harder since my skin is tougher than my husbands. It's taken a lot
of work and effort - mostly on my part (since I was the object of her
bites) to get her to her current state. She is still more nippy than I would
like, but she doesn't draw blood like she used to. She is a completely
different ferret now than the psycho we brought home. Make the effort and
don't get discouraged....the nip training pays off, it just takes a while
sometimes.
 
Re: AIDS...
I am very fortunate to have not had my life touched yet by this disease.
I have known others who are not so lucky...they have lost many people they
knew or were friends with to the disease. The stories they tell are hard
and very sad to hear. It seems then, that ferrets are probably ideally
suited companion animals to people whose lives have been touched by AIDS.
Ferrets are some of the happiest, zest-for-life animals I have ever known.
They bring you up when you're down and they really do teach us to live life
to the fullest and enjoy yourself any way you can. They do more living in
their short years than some do in decades.
 
I'm very glad to see that there are people and organizations that can help
and care for these special little fur people after their owners can no
longer do it.
 
-kim, squirt (I want a potted xmas tree!), pippi (has named the cardboard
castle Castle Pippi), atlas ('da tubez is funner!), and hijinx (the reformed
psycho ferret)
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 1409]